But it's only 16 degrees outside!!!

The high was only 16 degrees today -- but who cares, the SUN was OUT!!! That's something that doesn't happen very often around here!

The weather guys had originally predicted very cold with snow showers for today. But, for some unknown reason, the sun came out instead!! They were right about it being cold, but since the sun was out, we layered on the clothes, packed up the mountain bikes, and headed to MOMBA to see if any other "crazy's" would brave the cold to ride today!!!

I was so thick with clothes, I felt like the kid in the "A Christmas Story" movie-- "I can't put my arms down"! To keep my head warm, I wore my full head cover, a fleece hat, and my helmet. Long John undershirt, a fleece top, light wool sweater, and a wind jacket for my torso. For my legs, I wore bike shorts, fleece leggings and thick wind resistant leggings. Since keeping toes warm is almost impossible for me- I swapped out my clipless pedals for flat pedals and wore my thick wool socks with my snow boots- this worked great! Another huge problem (for me) is keeping my hands warm. Pops had ordered us some "Smart Wool" glove liners, so with these and a pair of his thick fleece gloves my hands were ok. Actually, my hands started out cold but soon warmed up- where my toes started out warm and got cold- figure that one out. (???)

Since I haven't had a chance to ride my "new" single speed yet, today was the perfect opportunity to do so. It was great fun, but it kicked my butt! Actually, I did a little better than I thought I would. I did have to hike up several climbs, but I made some that I thought I would not be able to make. One thing that I did notice was how much upper body strength was involved climbing hills standing up. The trickiest thing for me was the climbs that had turns in them. It's one thing to stand up and climb a trail that runs straight, but put a 90 degree turn in the middle and it's a whole new ballgame!

I think I'm going to have to do a little more work on my bike. I think I should replace the brake pads (they stopped the bike, but are probably dried out like an old eraser) and I need to find a wider handlebar (the steering felt a little twitchy).

1st TeamDayton Indoor Time Trial

TeamDayton had their first of three indoor TT's today and all I can say is OUCH!!! That hurt!!!

The Computrainer is a pretty cool set-up. Each "race session" consist of 4 racers, that are not necessarily at the same fitness level. There is a large screen that displays the terrain and you can watch yours and the other racer progress.

I was racing in the same session as Pops, another guy in his category, and a young guy in the 19-29 category. I knew I would never be able to keep up with those guys and that would start to stress me out. So, to help me keep my focus, I decided to listen to one of my workout CDs (so I could "stay in my own little world").

My plan was...
(1) Don't start out too hard
(2) Push as hard as I can while keeping my heartrate under control and
(3) Don't worry about what the other racers are doing.

Needless to say, they were done long before I was! When they finished I was only at the halfway mark... UGH!!! I haven't seen the official results yet, but it's not going to be pretty. I think I finished in something like 29:07, but as I was "seeing sparkles" when I crossed the finish line, I'll have to wait for the results to be posted to be sure.

Looks like it's time to crank-up the training sessions!

As a side note, I had taken our camera along and asked a volunteer to take some pictures of us while we were racing -- he did, but I had forgotten to install the memory card into the camera- so no pictures today! Oh brother-- Blonde moment!


Update: My official time was 29:20

Skiing with the kids

While the kids were here, we ventured over to the "Perfect North Ski Resort" (just over the Indiana border) for some winter fun. We had heard about this place while attending a wine and cheese party when our friend John was up here. It is only about an hour from the house and was very nice.



Now, I'm no skier by any stretch of the imagination, but it was great fun. We've been skiing in NC and several times out west and the snow seemed more like what you would see out west- very powerery. Perfect North makes a lot of their own snow and were making some while we were there.



The sun was out, but it stayed cold (in the 30's), which is perfect for skiing!





This was one of those days that I was glad we spend so much time working on our fitness. We were able to throw on a pair of skis and have a great time-- without hurting ourselves!

A new project

The other day, we were killing time with the kids- wandering around the Mall, Best Buys, etc, when we decided to stop at the Salvation Army Store - just for fun. That's where I found my new "project" bike.

They had a old Giant Yukon for $9.99! Yes, that was 9 dollars and 99 cents. Surprisingly, it was in pretty good shape. The hardtail- rigid fork frame was dusty, but had no scratches or damage and the brakes and wheels looked good. Although the tires were flat, the chain and gears were a little gunky, one shifter didn't work, and it had a goofy "Mary Poppins Seat" (wide-bottom with gel and 2 big springs), I "HAD TO" buy it! Trust me, I've spent $9.99 on a lot less!!

My plan is to (with a little help from Pops) convert it into a single speed, so most of it's "problems" won't matter anyway. I figure, by using some of our "surplus" bike parts (that we've been "storing" in the basement), all I should have to buy will be a Single Speed conversion kit, a new chain, seatpost, and hand grips. So, I should be able to put together a "decent" single speed for under $75.00.





Pops has already been tinkering around with it. He wiped off the dust and pumped up the tires (so far, they are holding air). He has also pulled off the shifters, chain and flat pedals and mounted my clipless pedals and a couple of water bottle cages.

Should be fun!